Workers’ compensation insurance is designed to provide wage replacement and medical and death benefits to employees who are injured or worse on the job. In exchange for these benefits, the employee gives up his or her rights to sue for liability leading to the accident. Your premium will reflect the type of business you operate and the average salary of your employees. Much like auto insurance, business owners who are new to starting a small business or those with less experience tend to pay higher premiums.

I save all my back issues of The Family Handyman magazine and love the projects and repair tips. The trouble is, I’m not always ready to do the project when the issue arrives. To make my favorite articles easy to find at a later date, I put a stick-on label on the cover and then add notes for easy reference when the time comes to do the job. — Willie Schreiber. Plus: Check out this small workshop storage solution.
We first obtained legal permission from Hasbro [which originally developed the Transformer toy line back in the 1980s] to build it late in 2015. I also had to obtain my commercial driver’s license (CDL), so I spent a few months learning how to drive a truck while simultaneously spending the winter of 2015-16 working with Western Star to piece together on paper a vehicle that mirrored the Optimus Prime truck. Once the factory delivered the truck in April 2016, we got to work on the customization and fabrication right away. It was roadworthy again by October 2016. So the entire process from start to finish was about a year.
Ebates.com - Ebates is something I'll check after I've already found a deal that I'm going to bite on. The rewards aren't usually good enough to compel me to purchase on their own. But if you get an extra 3-5% cash back over your entire $250 budget, it can add up to an extra hand tool for doing nothing more than using their link to an online store.
Thanks again for the inspiration. I've just finished putting the door on my 12x16 shop. Aside from shingles it is ready for the winter. I've yet to cut out the hatch for the lumber or start on the interior, but at least it's weather tight and I can work on the rest I the coming months. I am planning to use mineral wool bays for insulation to mitigate sound and ease installation. I don't see a way to add pictures to this reply (I'm on my phone), so I'll try to add one or two later.
However you design it, a loop floor plan surrounds customers with product displays on outer walls, and allows for all types of creative display variations in the center of the store. A loop floor plan works well for most types of small retail stores, such as apparel and accessories, toy, homewares, kitchenwares, personal care, and specialty products.
Impulse items like small toys, candy bars, lip gloss, and breath mints are great products to feature near your register. When customers approach the register to pay and leave, you don’t want them to stop shopping. Placing low-cost impulse buy items near registers, as shown in the image below, encourages shoppers to add an item or two as they check out.
Perhaps the most satisfying move I made was to automate the dust collection system. I used the iVACPro system to link all machines to the dust collector. When I turn on any machine in the shop, the dust collector fires up and whisks the dust into the bin. The system also has a programmable delay to allow the dust to make it to the bin before the dust collector shuts down. I set my system for a five-second delay. The system works flawlessly for my band saw, planer, and router table at 115 volts, and also my table saw and jointer at 240 volts.
Are your table saw accessories where you need them—when you need them? Follow reader D. E. Warner’s advice: Attach pegboard panels to the stand to hold the wandering herd of push sticks, blades, throat plates, wrenches and jigs. On an open metal stand with angle-iron legs, drill holes in the legs and bolt the pegboard in place. Here’s another super storage project using pegboard.

Like most things in life, we believe that entrepreneurship can be learned, you just have to be willing to put one foot in front of the other. Aftering reading How to Start a Small Business 101, you’ll be equipped with the essential tools and resources you need to succeed at planning, raising capital, and executing crucial day-to-day business operations.

One of the best deals on portable power tools, including routers and sometimes planers, comes in the form of factory-reconditioned tools. These are primarily tools that have been repaired at the factory after failing quality inspections or being returned by customers. While they cannot be sold as new, they are identical to new tools in quality and appearance and usually feature the same warranty (be sure to check). Typical savings are anywhere from 15% to 30%, though you sometimes can find even bigger bargains. These tools can be found at Amazon.com and other online tool sellers. It is also possible to buy them through retail stores and, in some cases, directly from the manufacturer’s Web site.

Our Advice: Plan for aisle and display pathways of at least three feet, six inches wide, without obstructions. Then, once your fixtures and displays are in place, further test your store’s pathways by rolling a large baby stroller throughout your store. If you can easily navigate all traffic pathways, your customers should enjoy a comfortable browsing experience.

You see, everyone can make money with his/her hobby, and I am going to reveal it to you in a minute… Ultimate Small Shop Ebook Download There are millions of people who have the same hobbies and interests just like you. Everyone is searching for more information about their hobbies and passions. Take a guess – what is the best place to find the information today? I think you will agree that the World Wide Web (the Internet) is one of the best places on the Earth to look for information related to your hobby. Millions of people use the Internet to find the answers to the questions they have, to solve the problems they encounter every day. So, how could you make money with your hobby? It’s simple – build your own web site (online business) about your hobby. Ken Evoy, internationally acclaimed Internet marketer, developed a system – SiteBuildIt! (SBI!) – that helps anyone to create professional websites about his/her hobbies, interests and passions. Hundreds (maybe even thousands) of SBI! users have already quit their jobs and now are making a living from the comfort of their own homes, doing what they love – creating web content about their hobbies. Each web site built by SBI! is search engine optimized. It means that when you build your own web site with the SBI! tools, the traffic to your web pages is guaranteed through search engines. And it doesn’t matter what your hobby is – Ken takes you by hand and explains how you can make money from the traffic received to your web site. What matters is – you create information-rich content pages about what you know and love – about your hobby! Ultimate Small Shop discount If you think that you cannot write web content – forget it, you can! – SBI! will guide you step-by-step from developing your web site’s concept to brainstorming hundreds of profitable related keywords; building a themed web site; generating motivated, targeted search engine traffic that wants to click on your recommendations, links to the related products sold by merchants that you will represent. Note that this is not a “get rich quick” scheme. It will require lots of your energy, work and time. The bottom line is that you will have a hobby that makes money for you!I’ve always liked to make gadgets and gizmos that have some function, either useful or not so useful. It started with the simple things that many kids make – slingshots, a simple bow, and arrow, a toy boat. Occasionally I made more involved items such as a canoe and a dune buggy. Then there was the grass hut – 12 feet across, octagonal in shape, and thatched top to bottom with a thick layer of grass. I built it in a remote location, near a strip mine filled with water. Hauled the cut grass in a 1972 Volkswagon convertible with the top down. Piled the grass high in the back seat. It must have taken a dozen trips back and forth from a nearby hay field. Simple things appeal to me more than costly homemade items. A small project lets me pursue an interest without interfering with other goals. Ultimate Small Shop Tips A project with a small amount of time invested seems more like entertainment.
A good starting point here is to write down two or three keywords that you think define your brand and then allow all your design choices to be guided by those words. For example, a local cheese shop could be organic, artisanal, and authentic; a wine bar could be sophisticated, 1920s, French; or a local specialty food store could be gourmet, helpful, natural.
My wife and I have just bought a block and will be building a new house – as part of this will be the building of the “shed” – which is really a workshop as I am a very keen Woodworker (I have most of the toys!!). My question is – Leaving money aside “Is a brick or metal shed better – especially in regards to moisture, inside temperature (heating and cooling), noise etc”? Any other suggestions would also be appreciated – eg lining the structure, power needs, lighting, etc. I appreciate your expert opinion. – Ivan Banks
Listing agents are hired by a landlord to list their commercial property. Listing agents earn a commission that’s paid by the landlord, typically between 3% – 6% of the total lease. Tenant brokers, on the other hand, represent tenant interests. However, tenant brokers also typically earn a percentage of the overall commission paid by the landlord, knows as the tenant broker’s fee.
I decided to do Optimus for many reasons. One big one was that no one else in the world had done it. There are tons of Bumblebee Camaros and other replica cars, but no other fan of Transformers has replicated the T4 (fourth Transformers movie) and T5 (fifth Transformers movie) Optimus trucks. So if I am to show my son through action what it means not to be afraid to take a chance, I figured Optimus was the best way to try.
Everything from the way the customer is greeted as they walk through the door to the way your products are presented following a sale matters. The smallest details can make the biggest difference. Early on when just starting your small business, you as an owner, will be able to exert a lot of direct control over these details. But as you grow, you will come to recognize the value of a well-trained and motivated staff.
Working on one side at a time, glue and nail the side to the back. Apply glue and drive three 1-5/8-in. nails into each shelf, attach the other side and nail those shelves into place to secure them. Clamps are helpful to hold the unit together while you’re driving nails. Center the top piece, leaving a 2-in. overhang on both sides, and glue and nail it into place. Paint or stain the unit and then drill pilot holes into the top face of each side of the unit and screw in the hooks to hold your ironing board. Mount the shelf on drywall using screw-in wall anchors.

Does it motivate you? This is a tricky one because sometimes we have to do the work that we don't want to do to become successful. On the other hand, if it doesn't motivate you, you just literally wasted your time writing it down because you wont complete it. Consider your skill set and desire to want to work on that goal to help you eliminate goals (because you can't do everything).

YouTube: I love this place! You can find video training's on just about everything! It can help you with a lot of the tasks that you need to accomplish for your goal. So if you want to "sell products using Instagram" and one of the tasks is: post beautiful photos with text on my feed often, then you probably need to go on YouTube and search for "how to design an Instagram post, if you don't know the first thing about it. You can use YouTube to help you accomplish goals or tasks on your list that is out of your skill set.
Hey Brett! Awesome to hear that your own plans are coming together. I can’t really recall seeing any dirtbags rolling around in a Pruis… I wouldn’t imagine it to be the ideal vehicle for transporting gear and living out of, but the gas savings would really add up over 6-7 months on the road. In general, I’m in favor of going with what you’ve got and finding creative ways to make it work. Maybe you can add a rooftop box? On some vehicles, people even remove the passenger seat(s) for extra storage space. The biggest problem with the Prius that I see would be finding a place to sleep while you are on the road… But I guess that’s where your gas savings and cheap hotel would come in. I know Gina Begin has been living in her little car for a long while now, check out her stuff, and maybe reach out to her. She’s a veteran at dirtbaggin’ it in a car: http://www.ginabegin.com/2013/05/the-ultimate-guide-to-living-on-road-15.html

I’m currently in the process of building my own small shop and I almost didn’t watch this video because I was afraid I might become too jealous. I wasn’t. It made me realize that a good shop is worth waiting for and that I don’t need to be discouraged when things aren’t moving as quickly as I hoped. Thank you for the inspiration and congratulations on your new shop, you deserve it.

Remember that you must allow three feet of pathway space between all display units to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. But customer comfort is more than a requirement. Studies have proven, time and time again, that customers do not like to be jostled when shopping. Allow generous pathways between fixtures. Experts recommend three feet, six inches, so customers can move freely, examine products, and carry items to your registers. This will keep customers happily browsing in your store and you in good standing with the ADA.

I totaly get not wanting to get into the cost part of the shop. We just went through a house renovation, and my stock answer to the ‘how much’ question is either ‘enough’, or ‘enough that was right for us’. There is a quality of life or utility aspect that every person needs to figure out for themselves. And, I would think not having to bounce around from garage to garage anymore has gotta be worth something!
The kind of apps that fall into this app type are extensive. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, WhatsApp, Pinterest, and YouTube are all examples. Remember that some of these apps have been worked on for many, many years. Thus, a v1.0 social app or social networking app will likely not offer all of the same features. For instance, Snapchat did not start with videos, filters, or their "Stories" functionality. A social app would, however, include user authentication, friending, favoriting (or other data interaction), some sort of messaging, and comparable "baseline" functionality.
Ultimately, I did this to inspire my son. I want him to look at what I have done as a father and be proud. But I also want him to grow up into a strong man who faces fear in the eyes and doesn’t back down because of a challenge. I want him to say to himself one day, “if my dad built Optimus Prime, then I can do anything I want to do in life.” I want him to succeed in every possible way imaginable, even when I am no longer around to help him through those challenges.
How to Optimize a Small Layout – Not everyone has the room to have a huge shop selling everything. Ralph guides you through making the most out of a small shop layout. This includes optimal machine placement, where to set up shop, the tools needed, and lots of other consideration. The guide walks you through every aspect of setting up your shop – going into details without having it be overwhelming. It’s ideal for beginners that are looking to set up shop.
2) I haven’t spent very many nights in full on winter conditions (that 12 degree night in Boise comes to mind!), so I can’t comment too much. It was fine for that… Mostly it was hard transitioning from the warmth of the cab to the frigid air while you are shifting things around and getting ready for bed, but then once you were inside the canopy it was fine. Lots of frosty ice on the inside windows, but in my sleeping bag all was well. It stays a little warmer in the canopy. Maybe I’m a wuss, but I didn’t want to spend an extended period of time dirtbagging it in my truck while I was ice climbing (I spent the first two months in Ouray, CO, sharing a rental), I just thought it would be too challenging/miserable to dry and manage gear in a confined space with the shorter daylight hours. I’d be perfectly content doing future weekend trips with this setup though!
Once you have your space secured, hang some pictures in the windows that illustrate what’s to come. It’s also a good idea to provide leaflets that people can take away with them and hang a clipboard and pen on the front door where people can sign up to hear more about your business. This list is pure gold! So once you have it, why not stage a launch party and invite the local community (and local journalists). The first step for any business is always getting people to try out your products!
Hey Ted! If you mean to ask whether you could sit up from one of the vertical sidebins and have enough headroom under the Leer 122, I think that would be a no. You’d have to build the sidebins to be a little shorter. At least with my truck, that would be the case. Perhaps with a full-size pickup you would have enough room thanks to the overall size increase of the canopy as well.
People tend to buy cargo vans for work and hold on to them for years, so many vans on the market can be pretty beat up. Although you can find inexpensive cargo vans in good condition, it can be tough to find anything with lower mileage - so be prepared for all that comes with owning a higher mileage vehicle. Cargo vans also don’t offer much headroom. There’s no way even shorter people will be able to stand in one, and the lack of headroom also cuts down on storage space.
The nomadic truck camping lifestyle has been incredibly freeing, not only is cheap and accessible to most anyone, but it can take you beyond places you even imagined. One book that I’d recommend to all newcomers to this lifestyle is Bob Wells’ How to Live in a Car, Van, or RV, which will help you better understand the ins and outs of this lifestyle.
Use the scrap piece of plywood to map out the angle for the speaker stand legs. Decide the height you want for the base of the speakers, and make a mark on the plywood (32 in. for us). Mark the depth of the speaker (13 in.). Lay the 1x4 board assembly on the plywood, lining it up with both the corner of the plywood and the 13 in. mark from the edge. Scribe along the 1x4 board assembly, take the assembly away, and find your angle with a protractor or speed square (17 degrees for us). Cut that angle onto one end of the 1x4 board assembly.
I place the band saw first in my order of purchases, because I consider it the heart of the shop. Band saws are very safe tools for ripping, re-sawing, cutting curves and more because all of the force is downward, virtually eliminating any chance of unexpected kickbacks. I wanted a saw that had a strong back, dynamically balanced cast iron wheels for smooth operation and flywheel effect, 12" depth of cut, good dust extraction design, a large table and a solid fence. After shopping around, I settled on the General International Model 90-170 14" saw. It is very smooth, comes with an Excalibur fence, and it is light enough (133kg) to move into your basement without crushing someone.
I’m for using what you have got as well but if what you’ve got just really isn’t up to the job it doesn’t hurt to consider switching to something else. Not sure what year your Prius is but if it is fairly new I imagine you could sell it for much more than what an older reliable 4 cylinder Tacoma would cost you. My 2wd Tacoma manual trans gets 30mpg pretty easily and I’m never tempted to get a hotel. The price difference in the two vehicles alone may well make up for the extra cost in fuel and potentially tempting lodging plus even in a 2wd pickup you will have a much easier time going off the beaten path then you will in a low hanging passenger car.
While strolling through the recent entries to our online shop gallery, I spotted some pretty novel designs as well as a couple of fun videos worth taking a look at. From brilliant solutions for tight spaces, to novel repurposing of department store display racks, there were plenty of interesting elements to the eight shops listed in my February round-up. By the way, if you’ve already seen our art director’s video tour of his redesigned garage shop (Mike’s Garage Shop), you can go ahead and skip it. If not however, it’s really worth a look!
Hey, you ever wonder what it look like behind the scenes at a home improvement show? Well here’s a little glimpse of it. This is a storage building I’ve had for awhile and we use this for storage and materials and props we use on the show and it’s also used by my construction company. Well this part of the building has kind of turned into a little bit of a dumping zone, where people just dump things that they’re not sure exactly where they go in the rest of the building.
We exhausted our entire life savings on this project and entered into a lot of debt at the same time. And now it’s the ongoing maintenance, repairs, insurance, and upkeep on this rig that make it almost impossible for us to keep it on the road. This is where I’m hoping to get that “let’s sponsor you to travel across America and meet the fans” call from Hasbro or Paramount one day soon.

How to Optimize a Small Layout – Not everyone has the room to have a huge shop selling everything. Ralph guides you through making the most out of a small shop layout. This includes optimal machine placement, where to set up shop, the tools needed, and lots of other consideration. The guide walks you through every aspect of setting up your shop – going into details without having it be overwhelming. It’s ideal for beginners that are looking to set up shop.

I will also typically secure those sorts of items under my locked platform if I am gone for a few days in the backcountry, because in reality I could probably care less if someone broke in and stole my box of food, versus someone who stole my clothes or expensive down jackets, which would be much more problematic (and costly) to replace on the road.
Use this model whether you’re looking to turn your team of one into a two-person shop or you’re hoping to build out your marketing department to a team of 10 or more. By focusing on the skill sets your business needs to be successful — rather than on the resume of an individual candidate — you’ll ensure vital functions are covered while expanding in a sustainable way.
Volkswagen campers are by far the most iconic vehicles in the vanlife community. They’re classics, and they always will be. This category includes the old Kombi bus (VW Bus), the 1980-91 Vanagon, and the newer Eurovans. Also known as Westfalias or Westies, many VW vans were converted into campers by the Westfalia Company in Germany (except for Eurovans, which were converted by Winnebago in the US).
You need an out-feed table to support work exiting the table saw and band saw. By placing the tools close together, I was able to make one out-feed table that works for both tools. I put four pivoting wheels on the table, allowing me to shift the table in any direction. By placing a shelf below the table, I gained some much needed storage space for portable power tools. Finally, since this is a large work surface, the table also serves as a true, flat assembly table.
If you have a broker that’s too successful you may be a low priority. If you choose a broker that’s inexperienced but attentive, you may end up paying for their novice mistakes. My advice is to not choose a broker but instead choose a team. Pick a junior/senior combo so that when you’re hunting for space you work more with the junior, and when it comes to negotiating the deal you have the experienced veteran leading the negotiation.”
Do you have a business license? Do you have a permit to open a food service establishment issued by the local health department? Are you applying for a permit to modify the building you wish to occupy? Do you have a health permit from the county health department? Do you have a signage permit? How about an alarm permit from your city or county fire or police departments? These are just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself.
Remember the social media networks we asked you to secure in section five, Choosing a Business Name? Well, now is the perfect time to activate those channels. Use social media to build excitement about your grand opening and keep potential customers informed about special promotions and sales. People want to know what makes you special, so tell them why your store or restaurant will be different to what is currently available. From sharing pictures of that new fancy espresso machine or sneak peeks of your store’s interior, you can gain buy-in to your central message and build some anticipation before you even open your doors. Knowing how to to leverage key social channels is imperative to starting a success small business that will stand the test of time.
​Buying rough cut lumber saves a ton of money. Buying lumber that has had all four sides surfaced (s4s) will cost roughly 4 times as much as buying rough cut lumber. Let's look at an example: I'm going to build a table that will require 50 board feet of oak. If I buy finished oak it will cost around $5.5 / bf or $275. Alternatively, I can buy rough cut oak at $1.25/bf or ~$65. In this one project I've saved $210. That's enough for a new power tool.
As a carpenter, I need to bring certain items with me every day. I bought a cheap plastic tote in the tool storage area at a home center and modified it for my needs. I made a small plywood deck, drilled a couple of 3-in. holes for coffee cups or glue bottles and then fastened it to the tote. Another piece of plywood has holes to keep pencils upright and organized. My tote sits nicely on my bench seat, but it could also be attached to the floor with hook-and-loop fasteners. You could easily customize these totes for plumbing, garden or painting tools, electrical supplies—what have you. — Don Simms. Check out this jumbo tote for fasteners.
Great article, Ryan! I love the detailed explanations of the various options for sleeping. I consider myself a veteran “light-duty traveler” who stumbled across some of these things by accident over the years. My needs are different than yours (I’m usually traveling long distances for days and weeks at a time for work or vacation, so I usually don’t hunker down in a base camp very often), but I have a few questions and points to share:
It can become very difficult and time-consuming to constantly track the amount and purchase price of all your inventory, but it is hugely important to your bottom line. Every time you catch yourself saying, “Sorry, we don’t have that in right now,” you are leading your business in a very unhealthy direction. Not only does being out of something represent a lost sale opportunity, but in a world where consumers place a huge premium on their time, it could mean that you lose that customer forever while hurting your brand reputation in the process.

The more outlets the better! I have a good mix of 220v and 110v outlets throughout the shop. I even included a few in the ceiling and the floor in hopes of avoiding power cords in the walkways. And although this contradicts my previous comments about over-committing, I picked locations that would likely work for various tool configurations. If at some point they don’t work for my setup, I just won’t use them.

The threshold area, also known as the "decompression zone," is the very first space that prospective customers step into when they enter your store. It typically consists of the first five to fifteen feet worth of space, depending on the overall size of your store. It's also the space where your customers make the transition from the outside world and first experience what you have to offer.
Commercial law exists for one simple reason: money and trust have a long and storied history of mixing like oil and water. Throughout the millennia-long history of commerce, aspiring businessmen and women have been lied to, cheated, scammed, cajoled, bullied, and otherwise disconnected from every single dime they had by unscrupulous suppliers, greedy investors, and dishonest business partners.
I decided to do Optimus for many reasons. One big one was that no one else in the world had done it. There are tons of Bumblebee Camaros and other replica cars, but no other fan of Transformers has replicated the T4 (fourth Transformers movie) and T5 (fifth Transformers movie) Optimus trucks. So if I am to show my son through action what it means not to be afraid to take a chance, I figured Optimus was the best way to try.
If you want to hit the road as soon as possible, then a Class B/C RV camper is a great option to consider. These vehicles are typically move-in ready, and barring any mechanical issues shouldn’t need much customizing before hitting the road. Class B campers (aka “campervans”) are built inside a van body, while Class C campers have a custom body built on a van cab/chassis.

Ultimately, your workshop should be a place that inspires you to be creative and to do your best work. When you take the time to plan the space for maximum efficiency and comfort, you’ll love spending time there — and that means you’ll get more done, whether it’s fixing up a car or building a new piece of furniture. No matter how you use your workshop, you should enjoy the time you get to work with your hands and make something brand new. So what are you waiting for? Get started designing your perfect workshop today.

What I have done in my man cave of a shop is to install above my finishing table a strip of track lighting where I have fixtures ranging from the typical bright white incandescent (typically around 4700k) all the way to the average halogen spot that I figure someone would use with an art piece (normally around 3700K). this allows me to point each light and view my piece and finish under varying light conditions to judge whether or not I prefer a particular finish or not. It also helps in photographing items (though filming is a whole nother story, I still have my 5400k T8 overheads for working).
If you dream of devoting your life to a cause you believe in, it might be time to start a nonprofit. You’ll need to incorporate your business and file for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status -- and then you’ll be required to meet ongoing standards of compliance, but the payoff is making a meaningful impact on a cause you believe in. Want to do good while still making a profit? Consider social entrepreneurship.